Various hand-held aids for swimmers have been proposed heretofore to buoy a beginning swimmer's confidence in the water by enhancing his ability to float or to propel himself through the water. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,593,321 shows a handle suspended from a float which is centered above the handle. Other examples of swimmer's aids are shown in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: Learman 1,008,653, Babbitt 1,971,844, Ferber 2,006,915, Eriksen 3,510,894, Clemente 3,802,009 and Persson 3,889,308.
The present invention is directed to a novel swimmer's aid which facilitates the instruction of a beginning swimmer and which may be used by a swimmer in performing a variety of different maneuvers in the water with or without the assistance of a swimming instructor, including a prone float, a prone glide with or without kicking, a back glide with or without kicking, a back float, turning over from back to front while kicking (or vice versa), and leveling off from a vertical position to a horizontal position while kicking.
A principal object of this invention is to provide a novel and improved swimmer's aid.
Another object of this invention is to provide a novel swimmer's aid which may be used for the various different maneuvers specified above.
Another object of this invention is to provide a novel swimmer's aid having an improved arrangement for stabilizing a neophyte swimmer in the water.
Another object of this invention is to provide a swimmer's aid of novel construction which greatly assists the beginning swimmer to assume a level prone position in the water.
Another object of this invention is to provide a novel swimmer's aid having a hand grip arrangement which assists the beginning swimmer to keep his hands up at the proper level in the water.
Further objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of three presently-preferred embodiments, which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.